That Edge of His
by RadicalCowboy
Summary: Light tests his limits. Set during the Yotsuba arc.
1. The Slow Sink

We're in swimming pool. It's empty except for us. I'm floating in the water, and L is a chain's length away, resting half-submerged on a circular float. I shiver, and duck my head under the water. L brought us here, in his words, for a "brain boost". Something about cerebral fluids. It's nonsense most likely, but I don't mind. I've always enjoyed the pool, and it's been a while since I've been in one.

I dive underwater, and swim underneath L's dangling foot. I consider grabbing it. Then I do, my hand wrapping almost all the way around his pale sole. He tries to kick me off, lightly, and I relent because I'm running out of air.

I float up to the surface, head popping up to reveal everything above my nose. I stare at L. He's still lying with his head back and eyes closed. I sigh and create a bubble of water.

"I am Kira." I say into the pool. I wait for a response from L. None. "L smells." No response. I sigh again. This is childish.

Then I think about diving underwater again, under L, and pulling his neck backwards, down into the blue. I shiver out of my thoughts.

Then I dive.

L can no doubt feel the chain's position moving through the water, gliding, rattling on his wrist.

I'm sure he's aware of everything that's happening.

I'm underneath him now, and I look above to the float, to where his neck should be lying. His fingers are floating nearby and I reach out to touch them, only stopping by an inch. I pull away, and look back towards his neck. I start reaching up, hands parting the surface in smooth lines.

And then I push forward, messily. In one movement, I encircle his neck, and pull backwards and down, lifting him over the front of the float.

Watari no doubt sees this from the sidelines, L's body being pulled under to disappear beneath the surface.

As it stands, I already have less air than him. My feet touch the floor of the pool, and L's feet reach towards the surface. I put my face close, next to his, and see that he doesn't have much breath.

It must have been the surprise. I think about letting him go, but I still have some air. My arms tighten around him, even though he isn't struggling in the slightest.

He isn't thrashing like I thought he would. In fact, he's eerily still, besides the look in his eyes. It's as subdued and black as always, with just the slightest glint of something. Something like fear.

I'm starting to go a little back around the edges and decide this is enough. L is still surprisingly conscious.

I release him to float upwards, and I stay on the bottom, waiting for the chain to pull me up. It does, but not very much. I push myself the rest of the way up, sliding along L's body to break the surface.

Just barely after my head is free, and before I can take a breath, L has the chain around my neck, my back to his chest.

"What was that?" He asks, calm as ever.

"An experiment." I rasp. The chain tightens.

"That isn't like the Light I know. He wouldn't do anything to raise his suspicion."

I stay silent. I glance over to Watari, who had stayed on the sidelines the whole time. Overconfident? I might not have let him go. I might have killed him.

"What were you trying to do?"

"See what you'd do. Nothing, apparently."

"Apparently." He releases me, and I take a full breath. Soon there is a tug on the chain. L is leaving the pool.

"We're going back."

"Did I spoil the fun?"

"Yes."


	2. Blud Tub

We're showering, me on the wet side of the curtain, him on the dry side. He's already showered, and is probably drying off. I count on it.

The chain tugs on the curtains edge, and I can't help but comply. I pull it open in one swift motion, and see L with a towel around his head. I punch the side of his face, and when his head smacks into the wall, I almost feel bad.

Then I feel a whack to the side of my own face, and my feet slip from under me. A running shower might not have been the best place to pick a fight. My head is headed for the faucet. L must see this, and kicks my torso so that I'm propelled back and away from the collision. My head hits the side of the tub instead, and everything goes black for a second.

I open my eyes and L's face is an inch from mine. I start into his eyes, unreadable. I head-butt him. He falls backwards onto the floor. I spit blood into the tub.

He pulls the chain hard and the side of the tub is rammed into my stomach. I gasp, and fall to hang over it. He places the flat of his hand on the back of my head, and smacks it against the porcelain. I pull myself straight, with wobbling and effort. My vision is shaking but L's face stares at me, still with an intense gaze that I don't like. I ready myself to punch him, but he blocks it effortlessly.

These hits to the head have made me sloppy. I put my fist down and spit more blood into the drain.

"Why'd you do that?"

"An experiment."

"What were you testing?"

"My strength."

"You put yourself at a disadvantage from the start."

"Yes." I look back at him. The towel is hanging around the side of his neck, and I make a grab for it. I was half expecting him to flinch, but of course he doesn't. Even if he wanted to, I'm sure those reactions have been trained out of him.

I wipe my face before I consider how gross that is. It must have been the hits to the head. I throw it down. And with the motion, he doesn't see me readying my punch. I land it on the bottom of his chin this time, sending his head backwards and away. My plan was to jump up and move to his side before he could react to my current position, but as soon as I stand up I black out.

I wake up on the bed.

"You might have a concussion." L informs me, straight-faced from somewhere on my right side.

"Oh." I reply, and close my eyes.

"No, don't do that. You can't fall asleep." He flicks the side of my face. I scowl.

"Was that really necessary?"

"…Yes." I can hear the hint of a smile in his voice. I want to punch him again. He wouldn't be able to fight back against someone who was concussed, right? But then again, could someone who was concussed fight? Only one way to find out.

I sit up, and the room spins. I look over to L, eyeing him blearily. It's only 10% for show. He is kneeling beside the side table. Perfect. The alarm clock is there. I make to reach for it, only to swerve at the last minute. I direct my fist into his side. He falls over with an oomph, and doesn't get up.

I hang my head over the side, and he punches it away. No dignity. Though I should have seen it coming.

I black out and wake up within a second, and look down at the sheets. Blood. It's dripping from my nose. I face forward and L is staring at my face. He itches at his lip.

I slide off the bed to stand, legs shaking slightly. I take a step towards his kneeling form, and then another, and another. He just stares, almost uninterested.

With one smooth movement, he kicks my legs out from under me, making sure that I would fall landing back on the bed.

I lie here for a moment, and decide that this is a good place to stay.

"Are you done now?"

"Yes, I think so." I do think so. It is 100% not an act. Which us worrying. I hear L get up, and when he comes back, he leans in close with a tissue. He wipes away some of the blood.

"Gross." He says. I laugh. It hurts, so I stop.

"Do you think we'll go swimming again soon?" I ask.

There is a pause.

"No, probably not."


	3. Sleep Depraved

"You've been awake for three days now."

"Yes."

"Is this another test?"

"Yes."

"Are you going to try to stay awake this night too?"

"Yes." My hands shake and my eyes shake and my voice shakes. I stare at the computer screen hard, not really seeing.

"This won't help the investigation."

"No." I'm starting to look like L. Hair a mess, eyes dark, limbs curling in like a dead spider. It's disturbing. But I want to see...

"You might be at your limit, here." My limit. I am starting to go a bit strange.

"Maybe."

"The rest of the task force has started to notice. Matsuda was giving me dirty looks today."

"Yeah." I laugh. I feel nauseous. I close the laptop, and stand up.

"Going somewhere?"

"Not exactly." I say, rattling the chain on my wrist. The chain. I look back to L, and imagine it around his neck. I shake the image away, and start stretching.

"Allllll the way to my toes." I mumble, reaching down. I miss them by a few inches. "Allllll the way to the sky." I stretch myself upwards from my tiptoes, unpopping everything. I land back on the soles of my feet and role my shoulders.

It's going to be a long night.

By 6 AM I've had 5 coffees and my heartbeat is drumming a war in my ear. I slap both palms to my head and whine.

L takes notice.

"Light-kun." I wince. "Sleep. I will tell the task force you are sick."

I look up at him. At his blank face, his black eyes, his messy hair. How does he do it? How does he stay awake for so long and keep his sanity intact? They seem mutually exclusive.

"No. No thank you L." I wrap my hands around me, and then scratch my nails down my biceps, hard, to wake myself up.

"Light..." I look up at him again and see that something in his eyes again. The same something I saw while drowning him in the pool. Is it fear? I can't tell with this sleep deprivation. My senses are all warped, dull.

My body sags, and I keen quietly. I feel weepy, and it scares me.

Then without warning, I really am crying. I'm rocking back and forth, arms pulling knees to chest, and I'm almost wailing.

I feel a hand on my shoulder, but I just keep rocking.

Then I feel a fist in my cheek and I'm flying off the bed. I stand up, and sit back down.

"Thanks L."

"No problem." He's already back to typing.

I sigh. I don't know what came over me.

"12 days." L says suddenly.

"What?"

"My record. I've stayed awake for 12 days before I had to fall asleep."

"Oh," I say, downtrodden. My ambitions, dashed. I might just start to cry again.

I sprawl out on the bed, hands splayed towards the ceiling. I might sleep.

An hour passes. I can't sleep.

Its L's typing. I grind my teeth until L takes notice.

"Something wrong?"

I turn to stare at him, gaze hard. My eyes move towards his computer. In one smooth movement, I push the heel of my hand out to knock the laptop off the bed, but in an even smoother movement, L lifts it up, and I hit air.

I fall over, face on the sheets. I'm still.

The typing resumes and I snap, maybe a little bit.

I jump up, and throw my whole _body_ onto L. We both tumble over the bed, laptop and all. I land on top of him, and start hitting his face, computer forgotten. L, surprisingly, takes it. For a while at least.

Eventually, he catches my fists, and head-butts me off him. This feels familiar.

I stay on the ground while he stands up. He picks his laptop up, and sits back down on the bed.

Slowly, I struggle to standing, and stare at him for a while.

"Are you done yet?" He asks, almost bored. In that moment, I hate him.

"No." I say, and jump on him again, knocking the laptop away again. My hands come around his neck and I squeeze. I stare down at him and he stares up at me. There's no sign of pain there, but his eyes are searching. I'm not sure if he finds what he's looking for, but eventually, he grabs my wrists and plucks them off him like I were no more bothersome than a fly.

I howl in frustration. My strength isn't what it should be without sleep. I push myself towards him again, but the firm lock on my wrists keep me bound. I continue to half-groan, half-scream until I sag in his grip. I fall asleep.

I dream that I'm strangling L again, but this time he goes limp. I don't feel as satisfied as I thought I would.

When I wake up, I keep my eyes closed. Just for a few moments more. I hear the typing again, but it doesn't bother me so much now.

"How long was I asleep?" I ask, eyes still shut.

"14 hours."

"Oh." I pause. "I need a shower."


	4. This Chain is the Limit of my Temper

L hears a snap, and looks over to me. I've pulled the chain taught, and am measuring it with a plastic tape measure.

"Where did you get that?"

"The kitchen. Found it in a drawer while you were getting cheesecake or something."

"Hm." He looks back at his computer screen. "Are you getting bored with this case, Light?"

"No." I reply immediately, if a little unsure. I am getting…something. Antsy, maybe. Restless. I think it's a result of being caged like this.

"Do you think we could go outside?" I ask, trying to keep the tentativeness out of my voice.

"No." L replies simply, and even though I didn't expect anything different, I still feel disappointed.

I sigh, and click the button that pulls the tape measure back in to itself with a whirr and a violent crack. I flinch a little. It's been three months chained to L. The last time I was even close to outside was when I thought my father was going to shoot me. I shudder a little at the memory. L glances over at me, but says nothing.

I make my way to the window, but am stopped short by the chain. Standing in the middle of the room, I pretend not to be frustrated.

"Light", L calls, "do you still want to find Kira?"

"Yes." I say without thought. It doesn't require thought.

"Then get to work. We'll move to the main room at 9."

I sigh and return to my laptop. I've been at a dead-end for a while now. But I work. When it's 9, we move into the main room.

Everyone greets me as usual, but with a twinge of hesitance. Is it the black eye? The slightly swelling nose? The circles under my good eye? All or none, I don't care either way.

I play with my hair as I work. It's gotten long in these three months, down to my shoulders. It's the longest it's ever been, and I don't like it.

"L, will you take me outside to get my haircut?"

"No." Of course not. I huff childishly, but I don't care.

"Light-kun's hair is getting pretty long L," Matsuda points out the obvious. "Why don't you bring a hairdresser in?"

"We're chained together and no one outside of this building can see me."

"Hide behind a door or something.'

L looks up as if in thought. "Watari can cut hair proficiently enough." He mumbles, a pale hand reaching up to grasp at an errant curl. Then he looks directly at Light. "But I like it long." He smiles, with no light touching his eyes, and turns back to his computer screen.

I scoff disbelievingly like a high-school girl, and cross my arms. With my foot, I push L's chair away from the desk. I realize I acted on instinct rather than thought when I am pulled off my chair and onto all fours, however. I feel shame creeping up my neck, hot and red.

I can hear L rolling towards me, propelling himself with his feet. "What are you doing down there Light?" My long hair covers my eyes. I grabs the detective's ankles, and turn his chair to the left. L spins around and grabs me by the hair, holding me up. I cries out, and grapple with L's unrelenting grip.

"Get. To. Work." L says, calm and livid all at once. I looks into his eyes and sees a glint of something again. I'm not sure what it is at all, now. Not fear, certainly. I saw it when I was drowning him, when I was strangling him—inefficiently, and now, when L has me at his mercy. I needs more…evidence, to figure out what this is.

"Alright." I grind out, through the pain. The rest of the room watches us stare at each other. Soichiro is standing up from his desk, looking as if he's trying very hard to hold back from saying something.

L lets me go, and I stay on the floor while L rights his upturned chair. Soichiro sits slowly down, eyes darting between his son and the detective.

I sit back on the chair and we both resume working. The room is deathly silent but for our typing. I tuck some hair behind my ears.

"I'll ask Watari to cut your hair." L says suddenly, a while later.

"No," Light replies slowly, languidly, "I don't mind this."


End file.
